There is far too much anecdotal evidence that our current border controls are weak, and unless fixed immediately, will partial make a nonsense of the level four shutdown starting Wednesday night March 25.
Its a mystery to me why the Government has been so slow on testing arrivals whether Kiwi or not. Tracking tourists has clearly been pathetic but at least that risk source is now closed off. But inward bound Kiwis are just as likely to carry the virus as anyone else coming in.
What about testing every single person who enters the country and imposing tough tracking requirements on each one of them, with random follow up checks?
This blogsite was established because of my interest and involvement in the media and public policy going back more than four decades. For 25 years I was a Government Relations consultant retiring from Saunders Unsworth in 2015.
Earlier work included journalism in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, public relations roles in Parliament, manufacturing and the meat industry – also in the late 1980s the North American Director of the NZ Meat Producers Board based in New York. I was President of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce 2000-2002 and was Chairman of the NZ Taxpayers Union from 2018 until March 2021.
View all posts by Barrie Saunders